Man City have hit the jackpot!

• enormous profit

  Trophies galore

  Alvarez has further bloated his medal collection with City, leaving with two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. He might have had bit-part roles in some of those triumphs, but he was the star of the show in the Club World Cup final, scoring twice to bookend the thrashing of Fluminense.

  Alvarez knew his role and in that first season never complained about being a squad player, starting just 13 of City’s Premier League games. Indeed, Guardiola praised his patience, which he contrasted with Joao Cancelo’s reaction to being left out that eventually led to the Portugal defender being loaned to Bayern Munich.

Alvarez is without a doubt City’s most costly sale, surpassing the sums of £17 million ($21 million) and £34 million ($43 million) if add-ons are fulfilled, which surpasses the departures of Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres. Additionally, the profit margin is significantly higher than that of Ferran and Sterling, who City signed for £20 ($25 million) and £44 ($55 million), respectively.

Indeed, Alvarez signed from River Plate for a pitiful £14 million ($17 million) the same month Manchester City sold Ferran to Barcelona. He might bring in as much as £68 million ($86 million) for the English champions after making significantly more of an impact on the pitch than Ferran. His final stats with City are 36 goals and 18 assists in 103 games—just 62 of which were starts.

• 

  Back on the bench

  Alvarez would end up playing a much bigger role in his second season due to injuries to City’s top guns. He was the main beneficiary of Kevin De Bruyne’s long absence and for a period in late 2023 was City’s player with the most Premier League minutes, starting each of their first 25 matches.

  He struck up a fine partnership with Haaland and then took the baton from the Norwegian when he injured his foot, scoring six goals between December and January.

  Once De Bruyne and Haaland returned to full fitness, though, he had to resume his backseat role, meaning he was substitute in key matches such as the Manchester Derby, both legs against Real Madrid in the Champions League and the FA Cup final.

  He would come on in all of those matches, but missed two glaring chances against United in the final as City suffered their first defeat in more than five months.

• confrontation

It appeared that Alvarez’s fate was sealed in the last few months of the season. His lack of opportunities, in his opinion, proved that he would simply be a stand-in until everyone was well. He’d considered leaving City as early as January, but it wasn’t until the summer that he took action.

Reports that he want to withdraw started to surface in the Spanish media, and he later expressed his opinions during an appearance on Argentine television during the Olympics. “I was one of the guys at City with the most minutes last season,” he remarked. You want to participate in key matches since you dislike missing them.

Not only was Alvarez a competent player, but City also saw that his final games showed that he was not a game-changing one. Guardiola responded to Alvarez’s remarks with a sour tone that made it apparent.

“Yes, I am aware that he wants to play significant events. However, the rest of them do too,” the coach retorted during City’s preseason tour. “I’ve read that he wishes to consider it. Alright, consider that, and then let us know what he decides to do.”

• 

  Succession plan

  By then it was clear that, for the right price, Alvarez could leave. And the right price is certainly what City have got, making a quadruple return on their investment in the Argentine as they sell their second-choice striker for £31m ($39m) more than it cost to sign Haaland, who is likely to remain the go-to frontman for as long as he wishes to stay at the club.

  City already began planning life without well-decorated back-up. In a strikingly similar deal to the one they struck to sign Alvarez two years previously, in January the club signed 18-year-old Claudio Echeverri from River Plate for £12.5m ($15m) plus add-on before loaning him straight back to his boyhood club. Echeverri is unlikely to link up with the first team this season, but he is an exciting prospect for the future.

  Savinho has just joined from Troyes, and although the20-year-old is more of a winger than a like-for-like replacement for Alvarez, he can come close to matching the Argentine’s goals and assists, having spearheaded Girona’s incredible season in 2023-24 with nine strikes and 10 assists. Oscar Bobb, who has been City’s standout player in pre-season, can also step into the Alvarez role while James McAtee is set to stay with the first-team squad and can also fill in as a creator behind Haaland.

• Ge

  Replacing the old guard

  And Alvarez’s sale now means City can make more big-name signings to replenish the squad overall. Eberechi Eze is a player City admire a lot and City are reported to have stepped up negotiations with Crystal Palace for the England international. He is valued at £68m ($86m), exactly the same initial amount of money City will pocket from selling Alvarez.

  Eze is just one player City are considering as they look to a long term future that is likely to be without two of the most influential players in the Guardiola era, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva. De Bruyne, 33, will stay this season but it is likely to be his last for the club, while Bernardo has long sought a future away from the Etihad Stadium and last year lowered his release clause to £50m ($63m) to make him more attractive to other European clubs.

  It is difficult to imagine a City team without De Bruyne or Bernardo, but the club have never stood still and are always looking to the future. Their hawkish pursuit of Alvarez and their shrewd sale of him less than three years later is testament to that.

  So City fans can say farewell and good luck to the the man they called ‘The Spider’, but most of all they will be toasting their scouting department and director of football for buying low and selling high.